Advice with an Art Piece

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Glowing DarknessNewbie

Posts : 23Join date : 2011-06-27Age : 30Location : Newcastle

Subject: Advice with an Art Piece Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:28 am

As some of you are familiar I do a little art now and again on the side. At the moment I have a pretty big piece which is laying going nowhere at the moment because I cannot work out how to do the finishing piece.

I have painted, coloured etc a tiger and I have come to the fur...yes the white fur, white fur that is on white paper...you see the problem don't you. Now I tried to work some colour into the white (such as grey to give it body) however, this hasn't worked out the way I would like. I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions about how I would be able to pull off painting the white fur, so it looks like the fur is actually there.

Hahaha, last resort would be buying fur material and sticking it on lol...but would rather solve the problem in paint!

Hopefully this makes sense...if not get me to explain again lol

Thanks!

CalwynSidekick

Posts : 1067Join date : 2009-06-03Age : 31Location : Ercildoune

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:48 am

The only other thing I can think of is to change the colour of the background, either to a gray or something more vibrant/dark to provide better contrast.

_________________"You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood."

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IMagiusPrimary Character

Posts : 326Join date : 2009-11-19Age : 46Location : Ontario, Canada

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:49 am

I'm no painter, but what I have seen others do is rather than trying to paint the white fur, they paint the shadows, fine lines, etc.. over the white background, essentially leaving the white where they want it - kind of like painting it in reverse ... rather than ading the color you want, you are adding the highlights you want.

I know that's how it is also done when painting onto stained glass ... the black paint is put over the glass where you want the shading, lines, etc.. leaving the color of the glass to show through everywhere else. It works very well with glass as the shaded (lighter) sections of black are tinted by the light coming through the glass.

You might want to experiment with other medias ... maybe charcoal, pastels, or something for the fur highlights ... something to let the white bleed through.

The biggest thing I think is not to get too carried away trying for every shade of grey. If you can, I'd say stick with straight black, and experiment with how much of it you use, from a subtle hint (almost/virtually dry brush) to a heavy (wet) brush stroke - it will keep your shading much more uniform then.Otherwise ... I'd probably be inclined to stick with only the "darker half" of the spectrum and avoid anything that was more than 50% towards the white end of the scale. That would eliminate the noticeable differences in the white of your background and the white of your paint - no two whites are ever the same ... and with mismatched whites, the lighter grey's that tend to get a blueish tint to them will really stand out when you step back.

From what little I have tried (while trying to teach myself airbrushing techniques) with something like what you are doing (applying varying levels of black over a color), I found that less is usually more. Just enough highlights & definition to give it shape ... after that, the viewers eye will fill in the minute details.

Glowing DarknessNewbie

Posts : 23Join date : 2011-06-27Age : 30Location : Newcastle

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:59 pm

Thank you both for the suggestions, I think I'll try them out on a scrap piece of paper first and see how each works out then I shall transfer what works best onto the actual piece.Don't want to try it straight onto the main piece as I'm the type of person who if something goes wrong, instead of fixing it...it ends up in the bin. That's a reason why I never show art work part way complete just incase something goes wrong right at the end!

Will keep updating to how its going!

Glowing DarknessNewbie

Posts : 23Join date : 2011-06-27Age : 30Location : Newcastle

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:33 pm

Would just like to post an update. Combined both of your ideas together, so I was shading in the background with a fine shade when I thought 'Ooooo, I have a white pen' goes to find the white pen to use for the whiskers and came across a tipp-ex pen. So thought, hmmmm....this might work.....and IT DID!!!! YEY!!! A new art discovery so to complete the fur I have used a normal pencil, tipp-ex pen and a scratching tool to scratch all the hairs in yey!!!

Pics coming soon!

Would like to say thank you again!!!

rainshadowCompulsive Writer

Posts : 2294Join date : 2009-05-25Age : 37Location : SW Kansas

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Wed Jul 13, 2011 5:09 pm

Congrats! Can't wait to see how it turned out!

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IMagiusPrimary Character

Posts : 326Join date : 2009-11-19Age : 46Location : Ontario, Canada

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:28 pm

Glad you found something that works for you

Looking forward to seeing pics!

Glowing DarknessNewbie

Posts : 23Join date : 2011-06-27Age : 30Location : Newcastle

Subject: Re: Advice with an Art Piece Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:32 am

Going to load the pics up in the art section (just realised that it was there after creating the thread)...well what can I say I'm new lol